Congrats sergeant JimmyDoorKnobs!
I will be interested to hear what Wild Bill has to say on Blithe's dipiction and how he felt about Sobel after the war.Poor man wouldn't know what hit him if we could ask him all the things we want to know.Hopefully one or two questions every week or so will be okay. Sue

I see this topic hasn't been touched for a while (although its probably gone somewhere else!), so thought we could bring it to life again.

My observation is also about Albert Blithe.

In BofB ep 3, DM collects his pressed clothing having returned to the UK from Normandy. The scene is all about a reflection to the fallen and ends with AB's parcel. He died (very sadly)from his injuries in 1948, but on the parcel, what looks like his service number (and please correct me if my eyesight is failing me!) appear to be written the numbers: 1, 9, 4, 8!.

Repeating my review of Ep. 3 from the 2002 re-airing, and my father's review. Both copied from earlier in the thread.

Among the things I liked about the ep was that we see character traits and relationships consistently emerging.

Harry Welsh, an officer who LEADS (thanks to BK for the insight). We see his "Follow Me" spirit when he sprints toward the T intersection in Carentan, not realizing that he is alone but for Luz until they find cover. Then he's the one who grenades the most prominent MG. And that terrific scene wth the jagdpanzer. No wonder Winters likes him, and we see some gentle teasing between them. "Hurts." "War is Hell."

Winters, the dutiful officer who is furious that the troopers don't charge Carentan behind Harry and angry when "officers crap out on their training," I guess because D Co. hadn't kept a guide back. Winters the kind, who reassures Blithe, and then cajoles him into firing his M-1. Winters the cheerleader, moving back and forth behind his men supporting them.

Nix the wiseass. Wonderful exchange of glances with Winters when Strayer demands reassurance that the street is clear while Winters and Nix are standing in it-- this, the same Strayer who demanded that Easy charge into the MG fire at Carentan. Classic comment to Harry about not expecting to get back to England.

Shifty the sharpshooter. He's the one behind the corner in Carentan shooting and hitting consistently until pinned by MG fire.

Liebgott: we see much of his nasty side later, so it's redeeming to see him cradling Tipper, who later gave Liebgott credit for his survival.

I listened carefully to the sounds. The sounds of the weapons firing are accurately portrayed except, possibly, the German MG's sounded a little slow. They BURPED as in "BURP GUN."

Still missing the CRACK of near misses. The whizzes of spent shot and shrapnel are accurate.

Perhaps the airborne encourage shouting, as in “GERONOMO” and “CURAHEE,” but in K/47, it was frowned upon. Loud talking, belching, and other sounds were not tolerated, because they intended to encourage artillery barrages. If ever we felt short on artillery barrages, we could count on our attached tanks to draw one by starting up their engines to charge their batteries. Guaranteed.

K/47's wounded were also quiet, unlike E/506. The Krauts were also noisy casualties and sometimes more unnerving than shot and shell. The only moaning American I ever encountered was [after his shrapnel wound] in the Meat Wagon on my way back to the Field Hospital;he had a kidney shot out and they couldn't keep him sedated. When we got there, they placed my stretcher in the midst of a bunch of karping krauts, who tried to make me their agent for immediate medical attention.

The private with temporary blindness [Blithe] would, in K/47, be a case for the Medics not philosophers. We needed whole men. If hysteria could make you blind, I would have been blind from the first minute of combat.

The attack on Carentan is done well. It shows the helter-skelter of infantry combat that reduces the Platoon Leader's role to leading them in and rounding them up at the end, i.e., if there is anyone to round-up and the platoon leader is still around.

Harry Welsh, an officer who LEADS (thanks to BK for the insight). We see his "Follow Me" spirit when he sprints toward the T intersection in Carentan, not realizing that he is alone but for Luz until they find cover. Then he's the one who grenades the most prominent MG. And that terrific scene wth the jagdpanzer. No wonder Winters likes him, and we see some gentle teasing between them. "Hurts." "War is Hell."